This invention relates mainly to the art of clothes worn by medical patients or other individuals incapacitated for some reason. More specifically, the invention is a garment to be used by incapacitated persons who are able to walk about but yet who must be able to defecate and/or urinate quickly and easily without removing, or unduly rearranging clothes.
In many hospitals, nursing homes, and also in private homes, there are a number of patients who can move and walk about, but yet who have difficulty removing or rearranging clothing for going to the bathroom. Often, such patients, have difficulty controlling their functions and therefore need to be able to both defecate and/or urinate quickly in order to relieve themselves. At the same time, however, such patients, and any persons caring for them, do not wish for them to expose themselves when walking and moving about. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a patient garment which can be worn by patients who do not remain in sitting or lying positions which does not expose the patients but yet which allows them to quickly carry out their evacuative functions without unduly removing or rearranging their clothes.
Garments for patients have been suggested in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,383,335 to Slocum, 4,651,346 to Hale, 3,085,248 to Benson, and 2,886,822 and 3,144,659 to Matthews. Although the devices disclosed in each of these patents is useful under particular circumstances, most of them do not serve the purpose of the invention described herein. In this respect, devices of those patents either expose the patients when they are in standing positions, and/or are better for one gender than the other. Some of them are also difficult to put on and take off. It is an object of this invention to provide a patient garment which is equally as good for men and women, is for adults as well as children, operates effectively, and does not expose wearers if they stand up or otherwise move about.
A problem with many hospital and nursing-home garments is that they look like invalid garments. Many patients prefer to have a more natural, or normal appearance when they greet visitors. That is, they like to appear not to be wearing strange or unusual clothes. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a patient garment providing the above features which does not look unusual or strange.
It is another object of this invention to provide a patient garment which is uncomplicated in structure, inexpensive to fabricate, easy to put on and take off and pleasing in appearance.